Four players set to go at Hearts

20 June 2013 06:16

Four Hearts players are likely to be made redundant in the coming days after 14 office staff lost their jobs, administrators BDO have confirmed.

And joint-administrators Bryan Jackson and Trevor Birch warned the club needed to generate up to £750,000 of income in order to continue trading until the season starts on August 3.

The pair appealed for Hearts fans to buy 3,000 season tickets in the coming days to avert a "fire sale" of players. BDO said the job losses were essential due to the "immediate need to reduce costs".

Nine full-time and five part-time administrative staff were made redundant and two senior players and two youth players are set to lose their jobs before the end of the weekend.

Jackson, who was appointed on Wednesday, said: "The truth is that there is no cash and no immediate source of income. But I believe that if the fans rally round and support the club then we should be able to prevent any further redundancies and keep the team together.

"There were 10,000 season tickets sold last year and 7,000 already sold, which will be honoured by the administrators, for the coming season.

"If we can match last year's season ticket sales and sell a further 3,000 season tickets within the next 14 days then we will have sufficient funds to last the next four months and retain the remainder of the playing squad."

Jackson, who insisted BDO would not receive any fee until a sale is agreed, added: "I guarantee that this money will be used solely to fund wages and for the continued running of the club."

Birch revealed there were four interested parties, all based in the UK, and that they had held initial talks with two of them.

He also offered encouragement to the Foundation of Hearts that its fan takeover model had a chance of succeeding.